« previous next »
Pages: [1] 2

Author Topic: Who lost the blimp  (Read 4606 times)

never_retreat

  • Head Muckety Muck
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,158
Who lost the blimp
« on: October 28, 2015, 05:28:37 PM »
Apparently a blimp broke loose from Aberdeen MD. It was floating along at about 10k feet minding its own business.
I started an ungraceful decent near Bloomsburg PA. Also it was dragging about 6000' of chain. Needless to say about 30k people have no power and the 180 million dollar blimp is all banged up, broken into at least 3 pieces and scattered all over the county.
Report to moderator   Logged
I needed a mod to change my signature because the concept of "family friendly" eludes me.
Just noticed that a mod changed my signature. How long ago was that?
A few months-mods

bedlamite

  • Hold my beer and watch this!
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 9,790
  • Ack! PLBTTPHBT!
Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #1 on: October 28, 2015, 05:32:07 PM »
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/harford/aberdeen-havre-de-grace/bs-md-jlens-blimp-loose-20151028-story.html

Quote
Two F-16 fighter jets were scrambled from an Air National Guard base in Atlantic City, N.J., to monitor the unmanned aircraft,

 :facepalm:

Wouldn't a Cessna have been a better choice?
Report to moderator   Logged
A plan is just a list of things that doesn't happen.
Is defenestration possible through the overton window?

Ben

  • Administrator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 46,023
  • I'm an Extremist!
Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #2 on: October 28, 2015, 05:39:58 PM »
Aerostat. [/airship word police]

(Though I guess it was technically a blimp after it broke free)  :laugh:
Report to moderator   Logged
"I'm a foolish old man that has been drawn into a wild goose chase by a harpy in trousers and a nincompoop."

Blakenzy

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 2,020
Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #3 on: October 28, 2015, 05:58:59 PM »
Probably a manatee.
Report to moderator   Logged
"Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives. A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy or perhaps both"

Ben

  • Administrator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 46,023
  • I'm an Extremist!
Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #4 on: October 28, 2015, 06:08:53 PM »
Report to moderator   Logged
"I'm a foolish old man that has been drawn into a wild goose chase by a harpy in trousers and a nincompoop."

brimic

  • friends
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 14,270
Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #5 on: October 28, 2015, 06:39:54 PM »
Well, at least we know who has all the helium during the shortage ;/
Report to moderator   Logged
"now you see that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb" -Dark Helmet

"AK47's belong in the hands of soldiers mexican drug cartels"-
Barack Obama

Jamisjockey

  • Booze-fueled paragon of pointless cruelty and wanton sadism
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 26,580
  • Your mom sends me care packages
Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #6 on: October 28, 2015, 07:37:52 PM »
Quote from: bedlamite on October 28, 2015, 05:32:07 PM
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/harford/aberdeen-havre-de-grace/bs-md-jlens-blimp-loose-20151028-story.html

 :facepalm:

Wouldn't a Cessna have been a better choice?

Cessna can't shoot it down if it's headed somewhere it doesn't need to be.
Report to moderator   Logged
JD

 The price of a lottery ticket seems to be the maximum most folks are willing to risk toward the dream of becoming a one-percenter. “Robert Hollis”

makattak

  • Dark Lord of the Cis
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 13,022
Re: Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #7 on: October 28, 2015, 08:46:08 PM »
Quote from: Blakenzy on October 28, 2015, 05:58:59 PM
Probably a manatee.


I cannot believe this was not the first reply to your post.
Report to moderator   Logged
I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought

KD5NRH

  • friends
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 10,926
  • I'm too sexy for you people.
Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #8 on: October 28, 2015, 09:22:56 PM »
Quote from: jamisjockey on October 28, 2015, 07:37:52 PM
Cessna can't shoot it down if it's headed somewhere it doesn't need to be.

What's a missile going to target well enough to blow up on or near it?  Bullet holes would take forever to deflate it effectively, and those bullets end up somewhere.

Seems to me a pyro disconnect device on the blimp end of the tether/umbilical with radio detonation and/or automatic separation on loss of signal through the cable would have at least left the cable in a relatively safe area instead of dragging more than a mile of it across the countryside.

So yes, the solution is detcord.
Report to moderator   Logged

vaskidmark

  • National Anthem Snob
  • friends
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 12,799
  • WTF?
Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #9 on: October 29, 2015, 09:44:03 AM »
Sure it disintegrated on impact.  NSA wouldn't want anybody getting their hands on one of those spy balloons, would they?

stay safe.
Report to moderator   Logged
If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege.

Hey you kids!! Get off my lawn!!!

They keep making this eternal vigilance thing harder and harder.  Protecting the 2nd amendment is like playing PACMAN - there's no pause button so you can go to the bathroom.

Scout26

  • I'm a leaf on the wind.
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 25,997
  • I spent a week in that town one night....
Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #10 on: October 29, 2015, 10:28:15 AM »
Quote from: KD5NRH on October 28, 2015, 09:22:56 PM
What's a missile going to target well enough to blow up on or near it?  Bullet holes would take forever to deflate it effectively, and those bullets end up somewhere.

Seems to me a pyro disconnect device on the blimp end of the tether/umbilical with radio detonation and/or automatic separation on loss of signal through the cable would have at least left the cable in a relatively safe area instead of dragging more than a mile of it across the countryside.

So yes, the solution is detcord.

Jesus the Helium !!! [/Archer voice]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K_WmV50e7c
Report to moderator   Logged
Some days even my lucky rocketship underpants won't help.


Bring me my Broadsword and a clear understanding.
Get up to the roundhouse on the cliff-top standing.
Take women and children and bed them down.
Bless with a hard heart those that stand with me.
Bless the women and children who firm our hands.
Put our backs to the north wind.
Hold fast by the river.
Sweet memories to drive us on,
for the motherland.

roo_ster

  • Kakistocracy--It's What's For Dinner.
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 21,225
  • Hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats
Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #11 on: October 29, 2015, 10:58:31 AM »
http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/217564/



Quote
That long-awaited Hollywood mashup of Black Sunday and Witness has finally begun its location shoots.
Report to moderator   Logged
Regards,

roo_ster

“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.”
----G.K. Chesterton

Angel Eyes

  • Lying dog-faced pony soldier
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 12,316
  • You're not diggin'
Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #12 on: October 29, 2015, 11:42:18 AM »
Fled Zeppelin?
Report to moderator   Logged
"End of quote.  Repeat the line."
  - Joe 'Ron Burgundy' Biden

Fly320s

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 14,415
  • Formerly, Arthur, King of the Britons
Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #13 on: October 29, 2015, 12:42:19 PM »
Report to moderator   Logged
Islamic sex dolls.  Do they blow themselves up?

never_retreat

  • Head Muckety Muck
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,158
Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #14 on: October 29, 2015, 02:44:56 PM »
When reports of the blimp was approaching New Jersey airspace we dispatched our counter blimp blimp.

Report to moderator   Logged
I needed a mod to change my signature because the concept of "family friendly" eludes me.
Just noticed that a mod changed my signature. How long ago was that?
A few months-mods

TommyGunn

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 7,956
  • Stuck in full auto since birth.
Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #15 on: October 29, 2015, 05:37:47 PM »
That was cruel.





Funny.......but  cruel. :angel:
Report to moderator   Logged
MOLON LABE   "Through ignorance of what is good and what is bad, the life of men is greatly perplexed." ~~ Cicero

griz

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,042
Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #16 on: October 29, 2015, 10:25:47 PM »
Reports now say the police used shotguns on it.  I sure hope one of them had the sense to say "pull" before he fired.
Report to moderator   Logged
Sent from a stone age computer via an ordinary keyboard.

Scout26

  • I'm a leaf on the wind.
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 25,997
  • I spent a week in that town one night....
Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #17 on: October 29, 2015, 11:03:06 PM »
If it's that close (within shotgun range) and dragging a 6000' long chain, how's about a grabbing some of the chain and hooking it to a winch to get it under control.


Oh, but then officer Friendly won't get to use some of the cool toys in the trunk of the cruiser....

 :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm:
Report to moderator   Logged
Some days even my lucky rocketship underpants won't help.


Bring me my Broadsword and a clear understanding.
Get up to the roundhouse on the cliff-top standing.
Take women and children and bed them down.
Bless with a hard heart those that stand with me.
Bless the women and children who firm our hands.
Put our backs to the north wind.
Hold fast by the river.
Sweet memories to drive us on,
for the motherland.

Phyphor

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 2,328
Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #18 on: October 30, 2015, 02:32:56 AM »
Dammit, Fistful!
Report to moderator   Logged
"You know what's messed-up about taxes?
You don't even pay taxes. They take tax.
You get your check, money gone.
That ain't a payment, that's a jack." - Chris Rock "Bigger and Blacker"
He slapped his rifle. "This is one of the best arguments for peace there is. Nobody wants to shoot if somebody is going to shoot back. " Callaghen, Callaghen, Louis La'mour

wmenorr67

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 12,775
Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #19 on: October 30, 2015, 08:03:36 AM »
Quote from: griz on October 29, 2015, 10:25:47 PM
Reports now say the police used shotguns on it.  I sure hope one of them had the sense to say "pull" before he fired.

Quote from: scout26 on October 29, 2015, 11:03:06 PM
If it's that close (within shotgun range) and dragging a 6000' long chain, how's about a grabbing some of the chain and hooking it to a winch to get it under control.


Oh, but then officer Friendly won't get to use some of the cool toys in the trunk of the cruiser....

 :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm:

Me thinks the blimp came down on its own accord and the shotguns used once on the ground to deflate.  Not sure why they had to do that though.  Think if one could get close enough they could have deflated somehow.
Report to moderator   Logged
There are five things, above all else, that make life worth living: a good relationship with God, a good woman, good health, good friends, and a good cigar.

Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American Soldier.  One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.

Bacon is the candy bar of meats!

Only the dead have seen the end of war!

KD5NRH

  • friends
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 10,926
  • I'm too sexy for you people.
Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #20 on: October 30, 2015, 09:34:05 AM »
Quote from: wmenorr67 on October 30, 2015, 08:03:36 AM
Me thinks the blimp came down on its own accord and the shotguns used once on the ground to deflate.  Not sure why they had to do that though.  Think if one could get close enough they could have deflated somehow.

6,700 feet of conductive tether tangled up in power lines.  You want to be the first to go poke it and see if it's all zappy?
Report to moderator   Logged

MechAg94

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 33,751
Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #21 on: October 30, 2015, 10:11:09 AM »
Quote from: wmenorr67 on October 30, 2015, 08:03:36 AM
Me thinks the blimp came down on its own accord and the shotguns used once on the ground to deflate.  Not sure why they had to do that though.  Think if one could get close enough they could have deflated somehow.
I thought helium was mildly flammable, but I don't know.  A quick search reveals a bunch of ignorance on the internet (surprise!). 
Report to moderator   Logged
“It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones.”  ― Calvin Coolidge

RocketMan

  • Mad Rocket Scientist
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 13,623
  • Semper Fidelis
Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #22 on: October 30, 2015, 11:49:08 AM »
Helium is a noble or inert gas.  Not flammable.  But its most important property is that it can make you talk like Donald Duck when inhaled in small amounts.
Report to moderator   Logged
If there really was intelligent life on other planets, we'd be sending them foreign aid.

Conservatives see George Orwell's "1984" as a cautionary tale.  Progressives view it as a "how to" manual.

My wife often says to me, "You are evil and must be destroyed." She may be right.

Liberals believe one should never let reason, logic and facts get in the way of a good emotional argument.

vaskidmark

  • National Anthem Snob
  • friends
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 12,799
  • WTF?
Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #23 on: October 30, 2015, 01:23:37 PM »
Quote from: RocketMan on October 30, 2015, 11:49:08 AM
....  But its most important property is that it can make you talk like Donald Duck when inhaled in small amounts.

What about if a whole lot of cops stand around letting it out of the bag?

A recording of the calls to dispatch would be priceless.

stay safe.
Report to moderator   Logged
If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege.

Hey you kids!! Get off my lawn!!!

They keep making this eternal vigilance thing harder and harder.  Protecting the 2nd amendment is like playing PACMAN - there's no pause button so you can go to the bathroom.

KD5NRH

  • friends
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 10,926
  • I'm too sexy for you people.
Re: Who lost the blimp
« Reply #24 on: November 05, 2015, 11:33:31 AM »
Quote from: RocketMan on October 30, 2015, 11:49:08 AM
But its most important property is that it can make you talk like Donald Duck when inhaled in small amounts.

Too bad sulfur hexafluoride is pretty much useless for filling blimps.  (Unless you need an inflatable anchor, I guess.)  Having a giant supply of it land in my backyard would be really fun.  I could finally nail the bass part to Elvira.
Report to moderator   Logged
Pages: [1] 2
« previous next »